msgid ""
"To what extent does Android respect the freedom of its users? For a computer "
"user that values freedom, that is the most important question to ask about "
"any software system."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"In the free/libre software movement, we "
"develop software that respects users' freedom, so we and you can escape from "
"software that doesn't. By contrast, the idea of “open source” "
"focuses on how to develop code; it is a different current of thought whose "
"principal value is code quality rather "
"than freedom. Thus, the concern here is not whether Android is “open”, but whether it "
"allows users to be free."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Android is an operating system primarily for mobile phones and other "
"devices, which consists of Linux (Torvalds' kernel), some libraries, a Java "
"platform and some applications. Linux aside, the software of Android "
"versions 1 and 2 was mostly developed by Google; Google released it under "
"the Apache 2.0 license, which is a lax free software license without copyleft."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"The version of Linux included in Android is not entirely free software, "
"since it contains nonfree “binary blobs” (just like Torvalds' "
"version of Linux), some of which are really used in some Android "
"devices. Android platforms use other nonfree firmware, too, and nonfree "
"libraries. Aside from those, the source code of Android versions 1 and 2, as "
"released by Google, is free software—but this code is insufficient to "
"run the device. Some of the applications that generally come with Android "
"are nonfree, too."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Android is very different from the GNU/Linux operating system because it "
"contains very little of GNU. Indeed, just about the only component in common "
"between Android and GNU/Linux is Linux, the kernel. People who erroneously "
"think “Linux” refers to the entire GNU/Linux combination get "
"tied in knots by these facts, and make paradoxical statements such as "
"“Android contains Linux, but it isn't Linux.”(*) Absent this confusion, the situation is simple: "
"Android contains Linux, but not GNU; thus, Android and GNU/Linux are mostly "
"different, because all they have in common is Linux."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Within Android, Linux the kernel remains a separate program, with its source "
"code under GNU GPL version 2. To "
"combine Linux with code under the Apache 2.0 license would be copyright "
"infringement, since GPL version 2 and Apache 2.0 are incompatible. Rumors that "
"Google has somehow converted Linux to the Apache license are erroneous; "
"Google has no power to change the license on the code of Linux, and did not "
"try. If the authors of Linux allowed its use under GPL version 3, then that code could be "
"combined with Apache-licensed code, and the combination could be released "
"under GPL version 3. But Linux has not been released that way."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Google has complied with the requirements of the GNU General Public License "
"for Linux, but the Apache license on the rest of Android does not require "
"source release. Google said it would never publish the source code of "
"Android 3.0 (aside from Linux). Android 3.1 source code was also withheld, "
"making Android 3, apart from Linux, nonfree software pure and simple."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Google said it withheld the 3.0 source code because it was buggy, and that "
"people should wait for the next release. That may be good advice for people "
"who simply want to run the Android system, but the users should be the ones "
"to decide this. Anyway, developers and tinkerers who want to include some of "
"the changes in their own versions could use that code just fine."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Fortunately, Google later released the source code for Android 3.* when it "
"released version 4 (also with source code). The problem above turned out to "
"be a temporary aberration rather than a policy shift. However, what happens "
"once may happen again."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"In any case, most of the source code of various versions of Android has been "
"released as free software. Does that mean that products using those Android "
"versions respect users' freedom? No, for several reasons."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Most Android devices come with the nonfree Google Play software (formerly "
"“Android Market”). This software invites users with a Google "
"account to install nonfree apps. It also has a back door with which Google "
"can forcibly install or deinstall apps. (This probably makes it a universal "
"back door, though that is not proved.) Google Play is officially not part "
"of Android, but that doesn't make it any less bad."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Google has moved many basic general facilities into the nonfree Google "
"Play Services library. If an app's own code is free software but it "
"depends on Google Play Services, that app as a whole is effectively nonfree; "
"it can't run on a free version of Android, such as Replicant."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Android products also come with nonfree libraries. These are officially not "
"part of Android, but since various Android functionalities depend on them, "
"they are part of any real Android installation."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Even the programs that are officially part of Android may not correspond to "
"the source code Google releases. Manufacturers may change this code, and "
"often they don't release the source code for their versions. The GNU GPL "
"requires them to distribute the code for their versions of Linux, assuming "
"they comply. The rest of the code, under the lax Apache license, does not "
"require them to release the source version that they really use."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Replicant is the free version of "
"Android. The Replicant developers have replaced many nonfree libraries, for "
"certain device models. The nonfree apps are excluded, but you certainly "
"don't want to use those. By contrast, CyanogenMod (another modified version "
"of Android) is nonfree, as it contains some nonfree programs."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Some Android devices are “tyrants”: they are designed so users "
"cannot install and run their own modified software, only the versions "
"approved by some company. In that situation, the executables are not free "
"even if they were made from sources that are free and available to "
"you. However, some Android devices can be “rooted” so users can "
"install different software."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Important firmware or drivers are generally proprietary also. These handle "
"the phone network radio, WiFi, bluetooth, GPS, 3D graphics, the camera, the "
"speaker, and in some cases the microphone too. On some models, a few of "
"these drivers are free, and there are some that you can do without—but "
"you can't do without the microphone or the phone network radio."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"The phone network firmware comes preinstalled. If all it did was sit there "
"and talk to the phone network when you wish, we could regard it as "
"equivalent to a circuit. When we insist that the software in a computing "
"device must be free, we can overlook preinstalled firmware that will never "
"be upgraded, because it makes no difference to the user that it's a program "
"rather than a circuit."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Unfortunately, in this case it would be a malicious circuit. Malicious "
"features are unacceptable no matter how they are implemented."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"On most Android devices, this firmware has so much control that it could "
"turn the product into a listening device. On some, it controls the "
"microphone. On some, it can take full control of the main computer, through "
"shared memory, and can thus override or replace whatever free software you "
"have installed. With some, perhaps all, models it is possible to exercise "
"remote control of this firmware to overwrite the rest of the software in the "
"device. The point of free software is that we have control of our software "
"and our computing; a system with a back door doesn't qualify. While any "
"computing system might have bugs, these devices can be "
"bugs. (Craig Murray, in Murder in "
"Samarkand, relates his involvement in an intelligence operation that "
"remotely converted an unsuspecting target's non-Android portable phone into "
"a listening device.)"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"In any case, the phone network firmware in an Android phone is not "
"equivalent to a circuit, because the hardware allows installation of new "
"versions and this is actually done. Since it is proprietary firmware, in "
"practice only the manufacturer can make new versions—users can't."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Putting these points together, we can tolerate nonfree phone network "
"firmware provided new versions of it won't be loaded, it can't take control "
"of the main computer, and it can only communicate when and as the free "
"operating system chooses to let it communicate. In other words, it has to be "
"equivalent to circuitry, and that circuitry must not be malicious. There is "
"no technical obstacle to building an Android phone which has these "
"characteristics, but we don't know of any."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Android is not a self-hosting system; development for Android needs to be "
"done on some other system. The tools in Google's “software "
"development kit” (SDK) appear to be free, but it is hard work to check "
"this. The definition files for certain Google APIs are nonfree. Installing "
"the SDK requires signing a proprietary software license, which you should "
"refuse to sign. "
"Replicant's SDK is a free replacement."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Recent press coverage of Android focuses on the patent wars. During 20 years "
"of campaigning for the abolition of software patents, we have warned such "
"wars could happen. Software patents could force elimination of features from "
"Android, or even make it unavailable. See endsoftpatents.org for more "
"information about why software patents must be abolished."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"However, the patent attacks and Google's responses are not directly relevant "
"to the topic of this article: how Android products partly approach an "
"ethically system of distribution, and how they fall short. This issue merits "
"the attention of the press too."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Android is a major step towards an ethical, user-controlled, free software "
"portable phone, but there is a long way to go, and Google is taking it in "
"the wrong direction. Hackers are working on Replicant, but it's a big job to support a "
"new device model, and there remains the problem of the firmware. Even though "
"the Android phones of today are considerably less bad than Apple or Windows "
"phones, they cannot be said to respect your freedom."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"The extreme example of this confusion appears in the "
"site linuxonandroid.org, which offers help to “install Linux [sic] on "
"your Android devices.” This is entirely false: what they are "
"installing is a version of the GNU system, excluding Linux, which "
"is already present as part of Android. Since that site supports only nonfree GNU/Linux distros, we do not "
"recommend it."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes.
#. type: Content of:

msgid ""
"Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <gnu@gnu.org>. There are also other ways to contact the FSF. Broken links and "
"other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <webmasters@gnu.org>."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
#. replace it with the translation of these two:
#
#. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
#. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
#. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
#. to
#
#. <web-translators@gnu.org>.